{"id":2380,"date":"2013-07-24T16:47:42","date_gmt":"2013-07-24T16:47:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sportsrabbi.agpwebdesign.com\/?p=2380"},"modified":"2013-07-24T16:47:42","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T16:47:42","slug":"its-more-than-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/its-more-than-basketball\/","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s More Than Basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_2386\" style=\"width: 3082px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/102_0215.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2386\" src=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/102_0215.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Israel National Basketball Team at the Western Wall\" width=\"3072\" height=\"1728\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2386\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2386\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Israel National Basketball Team at the Western Wall<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>The Israeli National Basketball Team\u2019s tour of Jerusalem to start training camp<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>By: Zach Blank<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As the team stepped onto the bus to begin training camp with a tour of Jerusalem, you knew that they were here for more than basketball. The Israeli National Basketball Team, led by NBA players <strong>Gal Mekel<\/strong> (who was still in the US) and <strong>Omri Casspi<\/strong> alongside the captain of Maccabi Haifa, <strong>Ido Kozikaro<\/strong>, is playing for the pride of its country. <strong>Alex Tyus<\/strong>, a member of the team, said regarding starting training camp by visiting the Western Wall on Tuesday\u2019s tour, &#8220;It means alot. Really helps me remember everything outside of basketball.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/W8tkapmI9H4\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The team started off its tour with an early lunch at the Crowne Plaza and then loaded the bus to go to Jerusalem&#8217;s Old City and the Western Wall. At the Wall, the feeling of excitement in the air was exceptionally apparent. This was due to it being the first time many of the players had visited the area in extended amounts of time.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2391\" style=\"width: 235px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/IMG_13611.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2391\" src=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/IMG_13611-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Omri Casspi &amp; Guy Pnini at the Jerusalem Streetball Tournament\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2391\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/IMG_13611-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/IMG_13611-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/IMG_13611-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/IMG_13611-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/IMG_13611-1080x1440.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/IMG_13611-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-2391\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Omri Casspi & Guy Pnini at the Jerusalem Streetball Tournament<\/p><\/div>\n<p>After an emotional stop at the Western Wall, the team travelled to watch Jerusalem&#8217;s annual 3 on 3 Streetball Tournament. There, each member of the team including, Head Coach <strong>Arik Shivek<\/strong>, posed with children confined to wheelchairs due to mental or physical disabilities. They also heard from the Mayor of Jerusalem, <strong>Nir Barkat<\/strong> about the national pride the team exudes onto the rest of the country.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8fAD20sV4mk\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This tour succeeded in reminding the players and staff what they are playing for: the State of Israel. Rather than focusing on themselves at individual levels, the team is uniting to represent Israel in the best way it can throughout Eurobasket. Furthermore, in regards to the importance of starting off the season with this tour, <strong>Omri Casspi<\/strong> stated, &#8220;It was very important. It will help us get ready for our season. Get ready for Eurobasket.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_34\" style=\"width: 3082px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/holylandhoops.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/102_0211.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-34\" src=\"http:\/\/holylandhoops.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/102_0211.jpg\" alt=\"Omri Casspi at the Western Wall\" width=\"3072\" height=\"1728\" class=\"size-full wp-image-34\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-34\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Omri Casspi at the Western Wall<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Israeli National Basketball Team\u2019s tour of Jerusalem to start training camp By: Zach Blank As the team stepped onto the bus to begin training camp with a tour of Jerusalem, you knew that they were here for more than basketball. The Israeli National Basketball Team, led by NBA players Gal Mekel (who was still [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[208,1],"tags":[563,24,29,564,48,565,251,566],"class_list":["post-2380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-uncategorized","tag-alex-tyus","tag-gal-mekel","tag-israel","tag-jerualem","tag-nba","tag-nir-barkat","tag-omri-casspi","tag-western-wall","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>It&#039;s More Than Basketball - Sports Rabbi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsrabbi.com\/en\/its-more-than-basketball\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It&#039;s More Than Basketball - Sports Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Israeli National Basketball Team\u2019s tour of Jerusalem to start training camp By: Zach Blank As the team stepped onto the bus to begin training camp with a tour of Jerusalem, you knew that they were here for more than basketball. 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